The Steve Ballmer Era, by the Numbers

Wacky YouTube clips, a stagnant stock price and years of investor criticism are some of the takeaways from Steve Ballmer’s tenure as CEO of Microsoft Corp.

Mr. Ballmer, who is 57 years old, has been CEO since January 2000 and was one of Microsoft’s first employees when he joined the software giant in 1980. Friday morning he announced he will retire within the next 12 months, a move that sent the stock sharply higher. He will depart after a successor has been chosen.

For investors, here’s a look at Mr. Ballmer’s 13-year tenure as CEO, by the numbers:

STOCK PRICE

Microsoft shares are down more than 40% from January 2000 through Thursday’s closing level. By comparison, the S&P 500 is up 15% and the tech-oriented Nasdaq Composite is down less than 10%.

The chart below shows how Microsoft shares suffered a steep tumble when Mr. Ballmer took the helm, a move that also coincided with the bursting of the tech-bubble and the Justice Department’s historic antitrust suit against the company. Aside from the steep tumble that Microsoft took during the depths of the financial crisis — shares fell to $15 in March 2009 — the stock has pretty much been dead money for the majority of Mr. Ballmer’s tenure. It has predominately hovered between the low $20s and $30s for years.

In 2013, the stock is up about 30%, including Friday’s 7% jump.

Microsoft’s stock price since Steve Ballmer became CEO in January 2000

FactSet

MARKET CAP

Microsoft shares jumped as much as 8.7% Friday morning amid word that Mr. Ballmer intends to retire. That gain alone added $23.4 billion to Microsoft’s stock-market value, according to FactSet.

For comparison purposes, that number is a bit less than Yahoo Inc.'s market cap ($28.4 billion), the company Microsoft infamously failed to acquire in 2008. Dell Inc. has a market cap of $24 billion and Tesla Motors Inc.'s stock-market value is $19 billion.

Microsoft sported a market capitalization of $269 billion as of Thursday’s closing level., third in the S&P 500 behind Apple Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. But Microsoft’s stock-market value remains a far cry from its record high in inflation-adjusted terms of $616.34 billion in December 1999.

NET WORTH

Mr. Ballmer’s net worth was $15.2 billion as of March, according to Forbes. Microsoft’s most recent proxy filing with the SEC showed Mr. Ballmer owned about 333 million shares of the company, making them worth about $10.8 billion based on yesterday’s closing price.